Audi R8 e-tron Electric Car Gets Fancy Digital Rearview Mirror

The old manual rear view mirror of today is out the window and on the side of the road courtesy of the upcoming Audi R8 e-tron due out at the end of the year. Why is this? Because Audi’s luxury electric vehicle, when it is released, will sport a new digital rear view one instead.

The digital rear view mirror in the Audi R8 e-tron, according to the automaker, is a color monitor with a 7.7-inch display diagonal mounted in place of a regular rear view offering. A small, ultra-lightweight camera located in housing in the rear of the car makes uses of a lens with a diameter of just a few millimeters that’s said to offer a much larger field of vision.

image via Audi

The camera/monitor system includes a control unit that Audi says produces a “consistent high-contrast, brilliant image.” During nighttime hours the system prevents one from being blinded by headlights from other vehicles appearing on-screen, and the driver can dim or deactivate the display at any time.

The technology behind this new Audi offering, which first debuted at the Le Mans 24 Hours in the R18 e-tron quattro and R18 ultra race cars, includes AMOLED in the monitor developed in partnership with Samsung. No backlighting is necessary, as the AMOLED screen can self-illuminate in low voltage, and the new displays as a result are more energy-efficient, thinner, and lighter than conventional LCD monitors.